RAFFERTY RESERVOIR

In September, two years ago I had the opportunity to fish Rafferty with a couple of knowledgable anglers, Trevor Hughes of Weyburn and Howard. Our launch point was Main Prize Park, the provincial park and campground that is located near the start of this 60 kilometre body of water.

One of the attractions, beside the great boat launch here, is the world class golf course. Some people will mix both the fishing with an afternoon round on the links style course. You won't have to worry about any trees on this course, but there's plenty of wind and rough along with some sand.

The reservoir itself runs northwest to southeast, and is about a mile at its widest. There aren't too many days when you can't fish because of the wind, but a bigger boat definitely does help and while there are a couple of other boat launches along the reservoir, if you have good equipment, you probably want to stick to Main Prize Park. There's a tackle store and boat rental there as well as some seasonal camping.

The walleye on this body of water grow about a pound a year with a four pound fish measuring in at about 21 inches in length. The original stocking took place in 1993 with the upper size limit at about six pounds.

This was borne out in the kind of success over the two days that I fished on Rafferty. The biggest walleye caught the last hour of our trip was about 24 inches and an even five pounds. Given the forage base of perch, various minnows species, bullhead and a heavy nutrient load, Howard says these fish should have no trouble getting to the double digit mark if the fishery is protected.

NEW LIMITS
in order to protect these fish anglers can only keep 3 walleye on Rafferty Reservoir (only one may exceed 55 cm) and 10 perch; pike will remain at 6 (only one may exceed 75 cm). This decision is based on angler creel data from 1998, and based on support from the Rafferty Lake Advisory Committee, who felt a reduction in walleye limits was important to help maintain this new fishery.

SEASONAL MOVEMENTS
Fish seem to abound in all sections of this 60 kilometres stretch of water and will hit almost anything that moves but like most reservoirs there is a seasonal movement of the larger walleye.

In spring, fish use the upper section of the reservoir near Goodale, then slowly start the long trek towards the Rafferty Dam itself as summer gives way to fall.

On our trip we found the majority of the bigger walleye in the middle section, some 20 kilometres towards Rafferty Dam from Main Prize Park.

DAY ONE
The first day on the water on Rafferty was spent with Weyburn city police officer Trevor Hughes. It was Trevor who had first brought this area to my attention, writing a letter outlining the facilities and fishing opportunities here. After a number of follow up conversations by phone, I was definitely convinced that this was a body of water I needed to fish.

It was also nice to get out with an angler who had seen this reservoir mature year by year.

As we headed down the reservoir on Day One, our first stop was a classic shoreline point at the mouth of a bay. There were a couple of other boats working the area using bottom bouncers and spinners but we decided to go with jigs tipped with live bait..

Working the area with the back electric I found there was a little inside turn off the main point. Of course it held some fish and we caught some nice walleye but none bigger than three pounds. Trevor suggested that there was larger game out there so further east and south we moved until we came to another bay and point. Scouting with my Bottom Line Master HR I marked a number of fish off the point in about 12 to 16 feet of water. With the wind blowing in on the point as well conditions looked prime. Positioning the boat on the upwind side, I dropped the back electric to slow the drift and started working up the side of the break. Trevor was using a jig and nightcrawler and I had a jig and leech on and as soon as we drifted into the 16 foot mark I had a big walleye on and Trevor missed a fish. Sure enough, a chunky four pounder came to the waiting net and from then on we were in the money. Walleye were literally crawling all over this piece of structure and we boated a number of solid fish and while tried a couple of other spots after that none held the number of good walleye that this spot did.

DAY TWO
On day two while fishing with Bruce Howard we went back to that same point to start the day, but the wind had changed direction and there were a couple of other boats working the area.

This again proved a valuable lessen, one that usually separates the weekend angler from those who take it another level. It's a simple rule - look at the classic fishing holding areas first- like points, sunken islands and the like, but when there is a fair amount of fishing pressure, look to the less obvious.

I usually do this by driving down the shoreline, watching my electronics for sudden rises or drops in the structure. I am looking for large food shelves that extend out into the deep water, the bigger the shelf, the better!

After going about a mile further east, I spotted a gradual rise in the bottom that extended out a little way into the old river channel. It was a subtle spot, with a gradual drop-off from five to 15 feet. After turning around, and slowly motoring over the area. I threw a marker on the section of the bar that looked the most likely to hold fish- just a little bend in the breakline. Bruce and myself both flipped out jigs and started working them back to the boat in about 10 feet of water. Bruce hooked up on the walleye, a solid four pound fish and for the next hour we caught an assortment of fish, including perch and some nice sized pike. It turned out that the walleye and pike were actively chasing down these perch along a weed edge and Bruce had a lot of success casting his jig towards shore and twitching it just off the bottom back to the boat.

All in all, in the two days, we caught an awful lot of fish, including a five pound walleye to finish off the trip. It is a great fishery and with the new limits on the reservoir this year, it should only get better!

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